Discovering Zenith

Posted on November 03, 2008 in Gaming. - No comments

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Back in the 80’s my good friend James Good introduced me to a game that was to occupy far too many of my teenage evenings. One reason I spent so much time playing it was that the game ran pretty slowly on the Commodore 64 the other was that it was one of those games that manages to create a strong atmosphere that draws your in to it’s alternative reality. Of course, the fact that it had 10,000 levels to work through also helped!

Sentinel was originally written by Geoff Crammond of REVS and Grand Prix fame and was totally different from everything else around at the time. Sentinel was one of the first “virtual reality” style games.

You’re immersed in a 3D landscape where you have to absorb objects in order to move around and gain height while all the time avoiding the gaze of the Sentinel. If you’re seen, your energy is absorbed and distributed around the landscape. Using your energy to create boulders and other robots for your to transfer your conciousness to you need to gain height in order to absorb the Sentinel itself and teleport to the next level.

James has only gone and done it again. I received an email from him recently entitled “Sentinel Remake” and contained a link to John Valentine’s Zenith a Sentinel remake for the PC.

Having downloaded and installed it, I find myself repeatedly dipping into the game in order to complete the next level. It’s absolutely fantastic, and even though exploring the environment is now a lot faster it doesn’t take anything away from the feeling of foreboding present in the original.

If you remember the original, it’s worth checking this out.

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